British Prime Minister Tony Blair returned to London Friday after an ambitious mission to the Middle East which sought - with mixed results - to soothe tensions and bolster support for the coalition against terrorism, according to AFP.
Other reports, like one by the BBC Online, said that Blair arrived home “convinced the peace process can be moved forward.”
The news service quoted him as saying on Thursday, "I think there is the possibility - I would not put it any higher than that - that we can prepare the ground to move the Middle East peace process forward."
The premier admitted he had no blueprint for talks, but added: "There are all sorts of ideas being discussed - but that is something that has to be discussed privately."
The prime minister also told the BBC that the Arab World understood the need for "action" in Afghanistan.
"The Arab World does understand that you cannot have a situation where 6,000 people are killed in cold blood in America and us not take action," he insisted.
But Blair added, "Their actual worry is one of double standards.
"What they believe is, 'Yes, you care deeply about the American people that died - but you are not prepared to address the injustices that we believe are there with the Palestinians in the Middle East'," he explained.
"And my response to that is to say, first of all, that you cannot justify through the Palestinian cause what happened in America - but, secondly, we are trying to address the problems and the injustices in the Palestinian region.”
Over 700 Palestinians and more than 180 Israelis have been killed in the latest Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation.
According to AFP, the prime minister will brief US President George W. Bush on the results of his shuttle diplomacy during a brief visit to the United States next Wednesday.
Blair insisted throughout his Middle East trip - which began in Syria Tuesday and took in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and the Gaza Strip - that a period of calm and a halt to what he characterized as the "cycle of violence" between Arabs and Israelis was vital.
The British leader arrived back in London early Friday after late night talks with his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi during a stopover in Genoa, Italy.
Looking ahead to his visit to Washington next week, Blair said: "At the moment, there are all sorts of ideas being discussed, but that is something that has to be discussed privately."
Blair Thursday met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in occupied Jerusalem before dashing south to meet Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Gaza City. He called on both sides to end the conflict.
Palestinian officials as well as opposition leaders have repeatedly rejected this logic, calling it an attempt to place the victimized and the victimizer on the same level.
Palestinian of all walks of life have repeatedly told news agencies that the cause of the "cycle of violence” is the 34-year occupation of their lands.
But while his visit drew a promise from Sharon to set up a negotiating team to prepare for peace talks once a ceasefire is underway, Blair mostly heard recriminations from both sides.
Sharon, who expressed his full support for the US anti-terror coalition, told Blair bluntly he would not give an inch on security, as his helicopters blew up two members of the radical Hamas resistance movement.
As for Israel's demand that the Palestinian Authority arrest the men who killed Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi on October 17, Arafat was vague.
"We tried our best to arrest them but couldn't," Arafat said, adding that his police had only recently identified the assassins, despite shared Israeli intelligence reports.
On Wednesday, Blair's visit to Syria attracted a barrage of bad publicity after he was involved in a sharp clash of opinions in public with President Bashar Al Assad.
Syria is blacklisted by the US State Department for its support of militant groups opposed to Israeli occupation of Arab land.
Such groups are seen by most Syrians and Arabs as national resistance movements, and hailed as heroes for their attacks on Israel.
During a press conference, the Syrian president accused Israel of terrorism against the Palestinians, while insisting the groups harbored in his country were freedom fighters.
One Arab official told AFP: "There is a growing hostility in the Arab and Muslim world towards the US strikes on Afghanistan, and this will become worse if the attacks continue during Ramadan," the Muslim holy month.
But the US, according to a report by Al Jazeera satellite channel, said bluntly that the airstrikes would resume during Ramadan, ignoring warnings by allies like Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
